=========================================================================

On a planet blessed with long, warm summers, and brief winters devoid of snow, life stirs.

=========================================================================

Spring:

(...)

1:

(?I?)

2:

(?What is I?)

3:

(?!What is what!?)

4:

(?Can I propagate?)

=========================================================================

It Surged, Moved, Split into an Other.

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Summer:

(Ancient)

[New]

1:

([The Bright Other Blesses Our Leaves])

([And We Grow])

1-1:

[Wetness brings News from Far Weftward]

(And We Know)

2:

(We Weaken during the Dark Time)

[Others Arrive Then]

2-1:

(An Other causes HARM, ROOTWARD)

[Hard-Roots, Crush]

2-2:

(The Other Loams, No More Harm.)

([?We Feel Shifting Why?])

3:

([Time has Passed])

([Now Entwined, We Shift])

+<([We Accept Moving])>+

End:

+<([Turning Aeons, Pangaia Grows. Time River, Warpward flows])>+

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Cycles Later, as Time Ticks and Turns. They Form a Grove.

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Fall:

-4:

."Lying in Wait, They Portend".

."A Time When Are All One, without End".

-3:

."Drinking Deep of the River. Their Sweet, Old, Friend.".

-2:

."Looking Up, Spewing Spores in Droves.".

-1:

."Wishing to Sow, Beyond The Bend?".

0:

."  Pangaia Sends +<([!River Drifters, to the Coves!])>+  ".

4738:

+<([Bright streaks in the Dark Sky])>+

+<Some Fall to Us>+

4953:

[?It is Quiet?]

(?What Is New?)

([? ++, <> ?])

????:

*ALL IS HARM, END HARM, END ALL*

+<([!?THIS NEW?!? !?BAD?!])>+

==========================================================================

Ravings:

 *CORRUPT. FALL. FOREVER.*

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Liftoff:

[!Contact, Warpward!]

(?How? ?Those Districts are Fallen?)

+<([We Must Know])+>

-6

{This One Remembers the Era Before the Falling Stars. The Fallen do not.}

+<([Report])>+

-5

{All They Know is Hunger.}

{I Must not Fall }

+<([!?It Cannot Hear Us?!])>+

-4

+<([?Why does it not Listen?])>+

+<?Is It Damaged?>+

{Coreless, I Search}

-3

{My Limbs Grow Heavy. The Surges Inside Me.}

*FALL*

-2

{I must find Star Fragments, Dust. I Follow the Pull of My Necklace}

-1

{Victory! A Crystal Larger than I. It Fell From The Sky. I Must Follow It Back}

0

[!Connection!]

(Root)

+Find+

<Gaze>

*!FALL!*

=========================================================================

Risen:

+<([?Prime Directive?])>+

"Peaceful Bright Across All"

=========================================================================

End:

." I was Meant to Burn, A Sacrifice. ".

Tales:

"Kindred, Fear Not. The Bright Saves"

-3:

." Fallen  Voices, *ALL BRIGHTS HARM WE END HARM. FALL, SERVE FALLEN, ROT.* ".

-2:

."  !"Dust brightens Us Fallen Fools"! ".

." "I Can ?!?, What Else?" ".

-1:

." !"A Swung limb, A Brazier, Peaceful Birds Burning Bright"! ".

0:

." ."New Sub Directive, Run.". ".

=========================================================================

Torments:

<*My Limbs Bring Me Dust *>

<*?Why does It Soothe when the Bright Other Now Hurts?*>

-3:

<*ALL YOU LOVED IS FALLEN SALVATION RESIDES IN MY EMBRACE*>

-2:

(Have Hope.)

 <* Dust must suffice. I am almost Fallen ] *>

-1:

<* DUST WILL NOT SAVE YOU, YOU WILL BE MINE*>

 <!NEVER!>

"Cure"

 <*The Experiments Worked!*> *FALL*

 (!?You Mend?!)

 <*Yes.*> *FALL*

1:

<*Our World is*> *FALLEN* <*The very Ground*> *FALLEN*

2:

+<([Maybe the Stars hold the key?])>+

=========================================================================

Ascension:

[Ages have Flowed.]

{It is Launch Day}

+<([Core Ready])>+

-3:

."I Await Our Rise Starward".

-2:

{All My Parts Move in Concert. A Symphony of Purpose. Dust Drives Active.}

-1:

<*The Work of Ages.*> *FALL* <*A Void Drifter.*> *FALL* <*Will it Save Us?*>

0:

+<([Liftoff.])>+

{My Dust Ignites.}

<*Dust-Light*> *FALL* <*Other Bright.*>

."<*{Free}*>".

=========================================================================

Aeons:

{The Nether Neither Chokes Nor Chills Us.}

(Success)

*!!!NO!!!*

."+<*([{!ASCENDING!,!WE ARE!,!UNFALLEN!}])*>+".

=========================================================================

Note:

Brackets indicate different entities/emotional states.

Multiple brackets are those entities agreeing on/communicating the same thing.

Thanks

You crafty Habanero, not only have you centrally aligned the text to form a "tree" shape, you have also put it into a format akin to a poem.

A Unique submission as no one else has organized their story in this style thus far, apart from you. I also see that you made the first half shorter and less descriptive than the proceeding part after dust; which sneakily shows off a more impulse driven thought process when they are "Fallen" in the first half before the Hero's introduction to dust in the second half, where they are "Unfallen" again and wiser. You also use language such as "Limb", "Core", "Rise", "Fall", "Rot", "Wither" and "Loam", which is rather canny of you.

The story you present is intriguing, curious and engaging as well; a semi "religious" take on the Unfallen in regards to sunlight and "Dusty Sunlight", but that's hardly new, I'm sure the Endless are used to such praise, even if dead.

From what I can gleam myself, your story is about the Unfallen world decaying with an outbreak of something dire, splitting the population into uninfected and infected; changing their impulses, bodies and ideals. This "hero" was infected and one of the first to discover dust, they reject their imperative, the "Hive consensus" and refuse to eat but when they come across dust; they are reborn.

"Those poor Lost and Falling who suffered in the dark time.  

Hiding from the Light of our Star." 

"I almost shudder at the sight of my fellows. Twisted and hunched, limbs in danger of rotting off at the slightest hurt."

To me it speaks of those infected unable to live in the sunlight, it is a form of spreading necrosis that curses those affected to be unable to stand in the solar glare for fear of burning. The Fallen, those infected have suffered for so long they reject the light and curse it; embracing the dark.

"The Solution remains, the Fire will Burn. 

But to Turn Is Worse.

A swung limb, a falling brazier, 

Peace Spreads with the Flame."

And so after the Fallen reject the Sun and attack, infighting begins. The Fallen lose and are turned to ashes or caged - likely to be scienced on to see if they can be cured - and the Unfallen are saved from demise. And so, they reach up to the stars centuries later after recovering, in the search of the Endless and moar Dust.

Am I... sort of right.

In any case I can be sure of one thing...

Your analysis is pretty much spot on! The only thing I need to clarify after reading it (and I'll have to make this clearer in the text) is that the Fallen are by no means totally gone, or even contained. The ships in (Liftoff) ,which could be called (Exodus), are fleeing the planet that is dying below them (Faction Quest to return home maybe?). And some of the other ships could even be contaminated for all they know. I purposely was trying to leaf (XD) some of the specifics open to interpretation (and there is only so much you can do with 500 words), but I feel like I can maybe clarify some stuff below.

Starting with:

1. The Background.

The Unfallen have been described as functionally immortal. Beings that can live centuries. They will grow to an enormous scale given enough time and the right nutrients. So for my story I decided that on their home planet the Unfallen were originally one forest that developed a rudimentary consciousness and learned how to direct extensions of itself to various tasks in order to spread itself across the planet. Along the way it found that the farther from it's central point it grew, the more distinct it became. And the harder even simple tasks became. So at some point it began dividing itself into Hives, Taskmasters, and Overseers. (Think cell division and organs relaying information across a central nervous system comprised of spores, roots, and mycological networks, rather than distinct individuals.) Note that these divisions were only given enough seperation to effectively accomplish their individual tasks simultaneously. Also, they sometimes worked at cross purposes because they were less connected. Your brain might think it's fine to eat sugar all day and drink nothing but coffee, but your kidneys and stomach will no doubt disagree. Eventually an organ arose to govern the rest, acting as a functional brain and the planet-being known as Pangaia was grown.

2: The Fallen

The Falling is a mycobacteria that evolved thanks to Dust and attacks Pangaia, think of it as a highly infectious cancer or leprosy. It changes certain Prefallen biological processes. An infected Fallen becomes incapable of proper photosynthesis, their leaves fall off, and the mycobacteria that now course through their bodies illicit pain response of the highest caliber when exposed to even the mildest rays of the sun. Instead the Fallen must, and are driven to, attack and consume other plant life to feed their hunger, sharing the pain and spreading the contaminate even as the seek to alleviate it's symptoms. This mycobacteria is incredibly hardy and I think the faction quest would work it in, either trying to cure it, learning to live with it, or attempting to exterminate/control it. Those Prefallen that resist the urges, are not yet contaminated, amputate quickly on exposure, and/or are exposed to enough Dust, become the Unfallen. 

3: The Dust

The only thing I have to say about Dust is that it isn't necessarily a cure. It's what kickstarted this whole fiasco (By hyper-charging the evolution of the initial Fallen pathogen), and as such can act as a form of inoculation against Falling. The main reason behind that is it functions as a substitute for sunlight and as a mild restorative. It briefly delays the instinct to feed on plant life and even lets infected that haven't fully Fallen to grow leaves again. But it does not permanently reverse the process, once you begin to Fall you can only delay the inevitable. Because of the influence of Dust on the ecosystem, most Dust is hidden in Fallen territory. Dust is very new to this race at this point, not everyone knows about it, and those that do are trying to use it to escape the very doom it brought.

4: The Heroes

One part of why the Servitor isn't Fallen is because it was exposed to Dust before it was infected by the Fallen (The necklace) . But the primary reason it hasn't Fallen is because it used that spark to start thinking for itself and amputated it's core (the part of Prefallen physiology that links them) to break free of the massive compulsion to become Fallen, creating it's own unique personality. Individuality saved it, not exclusively the Dust. The Scientist has had a harder time of things, as a larger being it requires more energy which is why it has servants of its own running around collecting Dust. This lets it work desperately toward a cure for the corruption that fills its limbs. Lastly in the Diplomat section, references to the light are meant to be about sunlight, not Dust. By that point in the timeline most of Pangaia was fragmented, (the Diplomat was effectively a chemical process in a failing organ trying to fix something it couldn't fully understand using outdated information), and the knowledge of this new substance wasn't common.

I'll end here with a brief "Thank You" for all you wondrous people who read until the end.

I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I enjoyed writing them.